2 Examples of How Non-Profit Content Marketing Should Work [and grab a tissue]
Posted on 18. Jan, 2012 by Joe Pulizzi in Blog, content marketing, non-profits, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media
Joshua with his LEGO bricks at age Six
As many of you regular readers know, my oldest son Joshua was diagnosed with autism at two years of age (Joshua is now 10). At the age of three, he could barely speak. Today, Joshua would be considered “high-functioning” autistic, which means that, if you don’t look closely, you may not notice he actually is a child with autism. To be honest, Joshua is one of those amazing gifts in life that just keeps giving. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.
[NOTE: To give just a bit back to all those who've helped Joshua along the way, we organize a charity golf event every year, where the proceeds, now in excess of $75,000 in five years, go to the Easter Seals Northern Ohio (ESNO) earmarked for speech therapy. For full disclosure, I serve on the board of ESNO.]
Non-Profit Content Marketing
Why did I share the information about Joshua? Because of my experience with Joshua, I’ve has the pleasure of talking to a number of people that work at non-profits about content marketing. What I’ve found is this: non-profits are the easiest of all to develop a content marketing strategy for.
Why? They can tell the best stories. All they have to do is go to their customers and do a short video or tell a story in words or pictures about how that person’s life was affected, as well as a short bit about how the not-for-profit played a role. That’s it. Anyone of the amazing therapists could interview Joshua (with permission of course), then blog about it and share it with social media to drastically improve donations or referral business (depending on the goal).
2 Must-See Examples of What Could Be
Hat tip to Pam Kozelka, our VP of Operations, for sharing these two amazing examples. What if a non-profit involved in either of these tear-jerking examples shared these stories? I can tell you right now that I’m a buyer (or better said, a giver). But, the hard fact is that most non-profits usually aren’t wired this way. That, my friends, needs to change.
Below is the amazing story of a 14-year-old named Carly. It’s 10 minutes long, and I encourage you to watch the entire ABC program.
This second example comes from Grace Curley and her younger brother Josh, who has down syndrome. I encourage you to flip through all the pictures starting with this one.
It’s amazing how a series of pictures can tell an amazing story.
Telling the Story
If you are a not-for-profit in any industry, you most likely affect people in a positive way. Whether you need more donations, more referrals, more connections…all you need to do is tell the story of the people you are impacting. The story of your customers is the story of your organization. You have something most brands would love to have…a powerful emotional story. All you have to do is do something with it.
The original post is titled 2 Examples of How Non-Profit Content Marketing Should Work [and grab a tissue] , and it came from The Content Marketing Revolution .
Nine Steps to Content Marketing Success One Step at a Time
Posted on 16. Jun, 2011 by Joe Pulizzi in associations, Blog, content marketing, content marketing content strategy, content marketing steps, content strategy, drake, non-profits, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
The secret to getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking down your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
- Mark Twain
I presented a content marketing workshop for associations and non-profits this week (sponsored by Drake, see below for the full slide deck) and, afterward, heard this question from three people:
“It seems like so much. How do I get started?”
The answer is to start with the first step. Then move on to step 2.
So many organizations want to go directly into developing content, which in our model is step seven of nine. Creating content is the fun part, and marketers always want to jump ahead to that step. Save yourself the agony and don’t.
The Nine Steps to Content Marketing
Although there is no silver bullet when it comes to content marketing, I’ve found that it’s best to look at content marketing in these nine steps.
- The Marketing Goal – What are you ultimately trying to accomplish for the business? (see this post on Content Marketing ROI)
- Define Your Audience – What are the buyer personas you are targeting with the content initiative?
- Know the Informational Needs – What are the pain points your customers are struggling with?
- The Secret Sauce – How do those pain points line up with your expertise and product areas? Remember, we ultimately have to see positive impact on the business.
- Where Is the Content? – Before you start creating content, we need to know what content we already have, and then map that content to the content segmentation plan so we know exactly what content we are missing. This is also helpful in determining how we can re-imagine the content we currently have for our different buying groups.
- Where Are Your Customers? – Where are they hanging out online? Which groups do we need to get active in? Are their opportunities in print and in person initiatives?
- Choose the Content Tactics – Now we can start to determine which tactics make the most sense to fund, resource or partner.
- Develop the Content Calendar – Plug those tactics into a content calendar that makes sense for your different audiences. Remember, think like a publisher.
- Execute Back to the Objective – Make decisions on measurement, sourcing, tracking, reporting. Continually refine the plan. Assign the Chief Content Officer (go here for a Chief Content Officer job description).
Even though the presentation below was crafted for associations and non-profits, any organization can use these nine steps to get started on the path to content marketing success. Also see the book Get Content Get Customers for more.
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